24 July 2012

Cornography – The Second Popping

We’re still basking in the glow of the second annual
Cornography, which took place this past Sunday atSmall Pond Arts.
Cornography is an art festival on the theme of “our twisted relationship with
food” which the audience discovers as they are led from location to location around our farm.

The
afternoon started off with a Punch & Judy show, performed by yours truly,
wherein the devilish Punch throws his baby out the window while the missus is
at the farmer’s market. ("What, you haven't seen a bit of good old-fashioned violence before?")

Milé,
dressed as a chef, then led the audience back to the barn, where they were greeted
by Reverend Rick Zimmerman, who welcomed the audience to the Funeral for Bad Food:

“I
want each of you to ask yourself this question: If I could say goodbye forever
to one grocery bag beast, one dinner table tragedy, or, as the kids today would
say, one food fail – what would it be? For today we shall topple the
burger king… we shall banish the Brussels sprouts, or burritos or bonbons. Yes,
friends, this is a funeral. It is time to Pills….bury….your bad food choice.”

He
held aloft a coffin-shaped piece of cardboard.

“You
will each get a coffin just like this….write down that item, that food failure,
that corrupt culinary concept that you wish to cast out. A brisket, a basket,
just write it on your casket. Let me put it to you as plainly as I can - place
on your sarcophagus that which sticks in your esophagus!”

When
everyone had written down their idea of Bad Food, we had a funeral procession through our back field. When we reached the grave site, the Reverend was
awaiting us. He tapped each person with a wooden spoon, and each spoke the name of
their Bad Food and flung it into the grave – to which we all shouted
“Expired!”

photo by Marnie Woodrow

photo by Marnie Woodrow

Hands down, it was the best
funeral I’ve ever been to. Of course every funeral worth it’s salt has a
reception afterwards, so we noshed on fabulous skull and bone cookies made by RuthGangbar, which a bunch of us had decorated the night before.

Next
the inimitable Tamara Segal and Chris Byrne led the audience on a musical
foraging walk, pointing out edible wild plants growing all around us which are
not only nutritious, but tasty, too!

Meanwhile
some folks were in the barn, making a variety of potato people with our queen
of craft, Cynthia Dinsdale. We also had food-themed art hanging in the barn, including work by Erin Johnston, Sarah Renaud Wilkinson, Brandy Gale, and of course, Milé Murtanovski.

Next
the audience was led to the silo, where Christine Renaud performed some spoken
word. She got the audience involved using the human microphone technique, and
then got a bunch of volunteers to get into the silo to perform one of her poems, creating a human ‘silophone.’

Children’s
entertainer extraordinaire Andrew Queen was up next, performing some
great foodie folk songs from his album ‘Grow.’

Yes, we do. The day was coming to a fiery close; the oven had been lit two hours
earlier, and I said a few words for our oven inauguration.

“...With the help of our friends and neighbors we built this oven with our hands.
The clay that binds the oven together we dug from under foot; we mixed it with
sand and hay and water, and stomped it with our feet. The rocks that make up
the base were gathered from all over our property.It took a long time to make this oven, but it was worth it,
because we weren't just making it for ourselves, we were making this oven to
share with all of you. In the days, months and years to come, this oven
will be used to create countless meals, meals made by hand, like the oven
itself. Once the oven is fired it stays warm for many hours, and we hope to
establish a regular baking schedule, so as a community we can share this warmth
with each other. Let this oven serve as a symbol of the good
things we can create when we work together.”

The afternoon culminated in a DIY Pizza Party, where folks
made their own pizzas and had them fired in the oven by the unflappable Susan
Larner.

Susanne masters the oven! Photo by Ruth Gangbar

People lingered long after the show was over, not just savouring the pizza, but reluctant
to let go of such a sweet afternoon together.

A big huge thanks to the many artists, foodies, friends and neighbours who helped make
this such a wonderful afternoon. We couldn't have done it without you.